Well, the mechanic got better, found very little wrong except for one
important thing - the head gaskets leak. Also #4 spark plug is seized up,
but that's another problem. Back to the heads - he claims that a "leak down
test" brought this up. I would presume that to conduct such a test you have
to get the valves lined up nicely, yes? Then you measure the rate at which
the pressure drops?

Anyway, the current theory is that this problem simply caused the engine to
work a *lot* harder to get anywhere, which is why it overheated. (And here
I thought ALL air-cooled engines were this wimpy!) Current diagnosis is to
pull the heads and see if they can be resurfaced. I hope so, given the
prices I was quoted for replacement heads - $345 a piece I think it was!

While he's got things out and apart, any suggestions for other preventive
maintenance that would be good to have done? I was thinking about checking
out the oil cooler, perhaps even adding a 2nd one. Other suggestions?

-rick

Rick Gordon
Bainbridge Island, WA, USA
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